Current Affairs
Government Schemes

The Centre included Gangotri and Yamunotri in Uttarakhand, Amarkantak in Madhya Pradesh and Parasnath in Jharkhand under a central scheme to develop pilgrimage and heritage destinations in the country, a tourism ministry statement stated. With the new additions, the number of sites under the Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual, Heritage Augmentation Drive (PRASAD) launched by the ministry in 2014-15 has now become 41 in 25 states.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal launched the ‘Mukhyamantri Tirth Yatra Yojana’ which offers free travel packages for senior citizens from Delhi to five religious circuits. 1,100 senior citizens from every constituency of Delhi will be able to avail this facility at one go. Under this free pilgrimage scheme, a Delhi resident above 60 years will be eligible to take free pilgrimage along with his or her spouse.

8 more States have achieved hundred percent household electrification under “Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana- Saubhagya”. The states are Madhya Pradesh, Tripura, Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Mizoram, Sikkim, Telangana, and West Bengal. 15 States now have 100 percent household electrification, according to Power Minister RK Singh. The government is hopeful of achieving the same for every household across the country by December-end. The scheme was launched in September last year with the objective to provide access to electricity to all the remaining households in the country. The Minister informed that as many as 2.1 crore connections have been released under Saubhagya so far.

The government has launched a unique initiative called Bhasha Sangam to introduce school students to 22 Indian languages. The initiative, under Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat, was active for the period between 22nd November – 21st December. Bhasha Sangam is a programme for schools and educational institutions to provide multilingual exposure to students in Indian languages. Another objective of Bhasha Sangam is to enhance linguistic tolerance and respect and promote national integration.

Ms. Preeti Sudan, Union Health Secretary did soft-launch of the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) segment of the Integrated Health Information Platform (IHIP) in seven states. The path-breaking initiative will provide near-real-time data to policymakers for detecting outbreaks, reducing the morbidity and mortality and lessening disease burden in the populations and better health systems. The first one-of-its-kind initiative by the Government of India, IHIP uses the latest technologies and digital health initiatives.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan launched the ‘Cow Samridhi Plus Scheme’ to provide insurance coverage to dairy farmers in the state. The government subsidized scheme, as proposed, will give insurance coverage to dairy farmers at low premium rates. Moreover, farmers belonging to the general category will be getting 50% subsidy on premiums while those belonging to Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) category would get 70% subsidy on the premium.

NITI Aayog has constituted the ‘Himalayan State Regional Council’ to ensure sustainable development of the Indian Himalayan region. The Council has been constituted to review and implement identified action points based on the Reports of five Working Groups, which were established along thematic areas to prepare a roadmap for action. The Himalayan State Regional Council will be chaired by the Dr. VK Saraswat, Member, NITI Aayog and will consist of the Chief Secretaries of the Himalayan States as well as the Secretaries of key Central Ministries, senior officers of NITI Aayog as well as special invitees.

Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Radha Mohan Singh launched the ‘Yuva Sahakar-Cooperative Enterprise Support and Innovation Scheme’ of the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC). The schemes aims for attracting youth to cooperative business ventures. The scheme will be linked to Rs 1000 crore ‘Cooperative Start-up and Innovation Fund (CSIF)’created by the NCDC. The funding for the project will be up to 80% of the project cost for these special categories against 70% for others.

The Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) has formed a new industry expert committee to develop and promote an augmented reality/virtual reality (AR/VR) ecosystem in India. The committee is chaired by Namrita Mahindro, Senior General Manager, digital transformation, Mahindra Group and co-chaired by Satyajeet Singh, Head –Strategic Product Partnership, India and South Asia, Facebook. The committee is a step in IAMAI’s efforts to evangelise the nascent technology’s ability to drive economic growth, job creation, and skill development in the country.